SANTA ANA – The husband of a prison guard shot to death on a freeway onramp in Anaheim more than 14 years ago pleaded not guilty Friday to special-circumstances murder charges.

Nuzzio Begaren, 50, indicted Thursday by an Orange County grand jury, is accused of orchestrating the murder of Elizabeth Wheat Begaren for financial gain by hiring gang members to gun her down and make it look like a street robbery that turned violent.

The defendant entered the not guilty plea through his attorney Sal Ciulla and his case was assigned to Superior Court Judge Richard Toohey. A pretrial is scheduled for June 22.

Elizabeth Begaren was shot just before midnight on Jan. 17, 1998, after stepping out of the family car on the East Street onramp of the 91 by one of three men who had been in a car following the vehicle from a Macy’s department store in Burbank.

Nuzzio Begaren, who was driving the car, told police at the time that gang members forced him off the freeway, robbed him of $4,700 and shot his wife when they saw her Department of Corrections badge.

But Anaheim detectives were suspicious of his story after they learned the couple had been recently married and he had taken out a $1 million life insurance policy on his new bride. He ultimately collected more than $900,000.

Detectives also learned he had a prior felony conviction for domestic violence against his previous wife. He also did not cooperate with the investigation into his wife’s death.

Begaren filed a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court in January 1999, contending among other things the Anaheim Police Department and the California Highway Patrol were harassing him as they investigated the slaying.

No charges were filed in the case until three months ago, when a joint investigation led by Anaheim police and including the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department turned up new evidence, prosecutors said.

The renewed investigation led to the arrest of three men, including Begaren.

Begaren is being held without bail, and prosecutors could decide at a later time to seek the death penalty.

The grand jury on Thursday also indicted Guillermo Espinoza, 36, one of the three men accused of being the gang members in the car.

Espinoza is at large, and his whereabouts are unknown.

“We invite the public’s assistance in helping us find Mr. Espinoza,” said Deputy District Attorney Larry Yellin, who presented the case to the grand jury.

Two other men, Jose Louis Sandoval, 36, and Rafael Garcia Miranda, 45, were charged with Elizabeth Begaren’s murder in February, but they were not named in the indictment.

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